Of cyclones, and buggers and dead kangaroos!

It was a lovely sunny day today here in Brisbane and yet a few hundred miles north they are battening down the hatches at the approach of Cyclone Ita! For those of you who don't know....in the northern hemisphere theses storms are called hurricanes but in the southern hemisphere they are called cyclones....and just like the water going down the sink the wind spins the opposite way to the winds in a hurricane.Ita is all over the news and tonight ABC1 is doing a Cyclone Live broadcast from 11.00 pm, the time it is due to hit land, for those people who want to watch houses and trees destroyed by 275km per hour winds......as it happens! It was a category 5 but has been downgraded to 4 and is expected to become a 3 on reaching land. I sound like I know what I am talking about don't I? I think it just means it was really bad and it is becoming fairly bad.  I was wondering if Brisbane gets Cyclones so I googled it. The last to affect Brisbane but not directly cross the city was Tropical Cyclone Hamish in March 2009......Hmmmm, quite recent then!Instead of packing and rushing off to find refuge in a cyclone shelter we just went off to the hospital as usual. I took some of my cake for Dulcie and packaged up some more for Lillian, Celia.....and couldn't leave out Maureen.Dulcie was dressed but in bed under her blanket....everyone else was out at the tables. We learned later that she had not gone to Physio that morning because she had stomach pains  and they were probably leaving her in bed....but we didn't know that then and just got her up and out.Danny came while we were having lunch and so we had a game of four handed euchre....it was a really close game....but team 'Nulcie'....I prefer that to 'Dick'.....won!Danny left us and Kirrily came to chat. We asked for a formal meeting next week to discuss how we can get Dulcie home quick. Kirrily was pleased with her and it was a positive chat.We took Dulcie for a ride outside for some fresh air for awhile."Is that the QE II hospital?" she said as we sat on the bench."Yes," I said."I think I'm staying in there," she said.We have noticed that she is more forgetful...she asks about three times what we are having for tea. She is good and so much better but she seems older after this accident. We need to get her home soon.Back in her room the nurses were putting Maureen back in bed."Oh, I'm buggered," said Maureen.Lillian looked shocked. "I wonder if she knows what that means," she said to me. "I looked it up once. I was looking in one of those books...what are they called? The ones that have all the meaning of words in....""A dictionary?" I said." Yes, a dictionary. I was looking up some word that my mum had said and I was flicking through and I saw 'bugger' and I thought 'oh, I wonder what that means'.....well," she gasped," I was shocked....people wouldn't use it if they knew."Heck! I've heard worse words trip off Lillian's tongue. It made me laugh.We went back again for tea. Lillian, Dulcie, Celia and Jorge (pronounced Hor-hay) were sat around a table. It was great to sit all together for once.Jorge only seemed to speak Spanish. Lillian did most of the talking.She came to Australia when she was 26 and is now 90....she has not lost her southern English accent. She's travelled a lot in Australia. Her husband drilled for water. She told how once when they were out in the bush her husband had been shooting and handed her the gun and said "there, get that kangaroo." She didn't want to kill it she said so she aimed the gun away from it and fired...but the sights on the gun were so far out of line that she actually shot the kangaroo!"I felt terrible," she said," I was cradling it in my arms, hugging it and kissing it and saying sorry."She has been in hospital for eight to nine weeks!"I just want to go home," she said.Ironically, one of the songs that the 'talker' plays on the piano, without any feeling just belting it out, is 'Show me the way to go home'.The 'talker' ambled past us at the table heading down towards the piano."Oh, God!" said Celia, clear as bell!Luckily, she was just going to watch the news.......Did I mention there is a cyclone coming?

Kangaroo Tail Soup!

This is what we had for tea tonight!

Ingredients:

• 1 Kangaroo Tail, cut in joints
• 60g Barley, well washed
• 3 large Brown Onions
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 3-4 Carrots
• 2 blades Mace
• 2 Turnips
• 1 whole Nutmeg
• 3-4 Stalks Celery
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons fat
• Cayene
• 3 Litres Stock or Water
• 150ml Claret
• Chopped parsley

MethodPeel and cut the vegetables into rough pieces. Melt dripping in a large saucepan. Add vegetables and allow to cook slowly without browning for 10 minutes. Add the tail joints, stock, barley, bay leaves, mace and nutmeg. Bring to boil and simmer slowly for 2-3 hours.Cool and remove any scum or fat from the surface, then strain. Returned to washed saucepan, season to taste with salt and cayene and bring to just boiling, then add wine, but do not boil again. Serve with chopped parsley.

 (The soup was delicious. The meat tasted like beef but was a bit gristly.)

Saint Lillian of the Afflicted.

Do you know?......Lillian has only gone and paid for Celia to have  TV for a week.'Well, it'll be something for her to do, she gets so fed up."Lillian is fab!

The long road to recovery!

Dulcie was all ready to come out to the dining room when we arrived today.We found an empty table and sat down. She had pork in plum sauce and Will and I had left over 'Curried Goat.'....that's goat in a curry!After lunch we collared Damien to find out what was discussed at the case conference.They are pleased with her progress."She is not on the oxygen any more," he said.We know that....we've been in twice a day since last Thursday...'we've probably seen her more than you!' I thought.She was now borderline as to whether she would qualify for oxygen at home but as she still got breathless after exertion she still might need it at home....they needed to do more tests.Will asked about a time frame for her coming home....Damien was cagey....and gave no deadline.We reiterated we were keen to get her home and we were prepared to make changes to the house to get her back."Am I right that there will be care for her at home?"Flippin' heck! We've told him 'yes 'twice before!We asked about getting an OT out to the house to discuss our plans. "Could we get one this week?" Basically we couldn't."And there is the issue of the 13 stairs....."I cut him off.....'yes but we have discussed and are prepared to get a chair lift.'"And she is down to 40 kgs...""Yes, but she eats everything and we have been bringing her biscuits and cakes and even a pie yesterday."In the end I wanted to scream...."You let frail old Doris out who sat there crying 'Help me! Help me! Will somebody please help me!' ....Dulcie would never do that!.....what is the matter with you?"The OT reckons in a few weeks she will be able to climb stairs.We told him she just wants to go home...she has lost her spark and fears she will never get out of there.It was not what we wanted to hear but at least she is progressing.

Baking Interlude.

Today I made a Chocolate Orange Drizzle Cake. Mary Berry would be so proud!

Ingredients:

• 140g butter, softened
• 200g self-raising flour
• 11⁄2 tsp baking powder
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 6 tbsp milk
• finely grated zest 1 large orange

To finish:

• 3 tbsp orange juice
• 50g golden caster sugar
• 50g dark chocolate  (I used milk chocolate and used a whole 220g bar, with the exception of a few chunks that fell in my mouth!)

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and line the base of a 1.2-litre loaf tin. Put all the cake ingredients into a bowl and beat with a hand whisk or wooden spoon for 3-5 mins, until light and fluffy. Spoon the mix into the tin and level the top.
2. Bake for 40-50 mins, until golden brown and firm to the touch. Meanwhile, heat the orange juice and sugar gently in a small pan, stirring until dissolved. When the cake is cooked, remove it from the oven and spoon over the orange mix. Leave to cool in the tin, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
3. Break up the chocolate and melt over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave on Medium for 1-2 mins. Drizzle over the cake and leave to set.